Israel Netanyahu's last battle to remain clinging to power
After a hectic investiture session in the 'Knesset',
a vote of just 10 minutes
has ended 4,457 days in a row of Benjamin Netanyahu (71) in power. The rotating government, made up of the right-wing Naftali Bennett (49) and the centrist
Yair Lapid
(57), certifies four events never seen in Israel since its first elections in 1949: the leader of a party with only six of the 120 seats ( the seventh voted against) he becomes prime minister (Bennett) in the first two years, eight parties of the left, center and right and one Arab form the coalition that also
has nine female ministers for the first time.
The unity government vote - 60 deputies in favor and 59 against -
was preceded by a barrage of insults
("liar! Cheater!") From the right-wing bench against Bennett in a continuous unprecedented verbal attack in an investiture in Parliament. The creation of the heterogeneous coalition
avoids fifth elections in two years of political loop
and fulfills the dream of half the population of separating the words "Benjamin Netanyahu" from the title "prime minister", united in the last 12 years and two months.
On trial for corruption and at the head of the most voted party in the elections of March 23, the longest serving prime minister (15 years between 96-99 and 2009-2021) has no intention of resting in the pool of his villa in the Villa de Caesarea but already serves as head of the opposition promising the rapid fall of what he calls
"dangerous government of the radical left and radical opportunism."
Netanyahu affirmed that he does not denounce a fraud in the vote count but "an unprecedented scam" by Bennett in reference to his triple and broken electoral promise not to agree with the left, Lapid and the Arab Raam party.
"It is a
fake
right," he accused.
Bennett's speech was accompanied by a battery of boos from right-wing and ultra-Orthodox MPs shouting "con man." "They try to create a sense of national mourning but what happens is normal in a democracy, that is, a change of government. I am proud to be able to collaborate with people who think differently.
We have stopped the train before the abyss," he
replied in a message of reconciliation, aware of the criticism for being head of government with little support and of the anger of the nationalist bloc that feels betrayed. Bennett praised US President
Joe Biden,
while calling his intention to return to the Iranian nuclear deal a "mistake". "Israel will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons," he clarified.
Lapid, the architect and strongman of the Executive, called for unity and noted that "Israelis are ashamed" of the spectacle of the angry protests in the 'Knesset'. adding that it shows that
"it is time for change
.
"
Lapid is Foreign Minister until August 27, 2023, when he takes over from Bennett, who will become Minister of the Interior. A less dizzying change than he himself made: from not entering the 'Knesset' in the 2019 elections to making the investiture speech in the same Chamber. As rare as Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, fiefdom of the left, celebrated tonight that someone identified with the right as Bennett is prime minister.
Netanyahu recalled the economic and technological situation of Israel and the vaccines that allowed them to be
"the first country to get out of the coronavirus"
and ironized about Bennett's commitment against the Iranian nuclear plan: "Now I am doubly worried because Bennett always does the opposite of what he promises, like when he said that he will not agree with Lapid and the left. (...) It is a day of celebration in Iran. "
"We will be back soon,"
Netanyahu promised in English, also annoyed that his replacement is his former employee in 2006 and then a hated political ally. With barely a fifth of the Likud's parliamentary force and after verifying, perhaps with joy, that
Netanyahu did not have a majority to govern even with his own support
, Bennett takes advantage of the impulse of the center-left led by Lapid to evict him from the official residence of Balfour in Jerusalem.
After ending, at least for the moment, with the Netanyahu era, the coalition will try to survive since it includes two large center parties -Yesh Atid (17) by Lapid and Azul y Blanco (8) by Benny Gantz-, two from the left - Meretz (6) and Labor (7) -, three conservatives - Yamina (6) from Bennett, Nueva Esperanza (6) and Israel Beitenu (7) - and the Islamist Raam party (4) to become the first Arab in a Government.
For this reason, the 13th prime minister in Israel's history will serve as CEO of a Board of Directors made up of more powerful partners at odds on cardinal issues but
united to ruin Netanyahu's "company"
that has achieved significant successes in recent months ( vaccination and four peace accords with Arab countries) and a serious political error (he broke the rotation agreement signed with a comfortable partner like Gantz a year ago, refusing to approve the budget to go to the polls with the aim of achieving the majority of your block).
In recent days, Netanyahu desperately tried to avoid the new coalition and proposed to Gantz to be head of government now.
The centrist leader refused to break the electoral promise, as he did in 2020, and will continue as defense minister, but does not hide bitterness because after "sacrificing himself" in the last year he sees a less popular politician arrive and become prime minister.
Only opposition to such a controversial figure as Netanyahu can form the
unnatural
coalition
in a new era in Israel
marked by a generational change and faces in leadership and the same old problems.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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